


Black Earbuds

by ReadySetDeath



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (except not really), (it doesn't even matter), 60's Music, 80's Music, Ancient af music, Crack! On a stick, Fluff, In the end, Keith and Shiro are workout buddies, Keith is a nerd, Lance can't pronounce things worth shit, Linkin Park - Freeform, M/M, My earbuds are better, Purple Haze, Shitty music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 17:35:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7541740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReadySetDeath/pseuds/ReadySetDeath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance introduces Keith to a new song. Appalled at the crappy quality of Lance's earbuds (and the fact that he was cut off in the middle of the song), Keith decides to go back and listen to it on his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Black Earbuds

"Hey Keith! You gotta listen to this song bro!"

Keith turned his head to find none other than Lance charging down the hallway, stupid trademark grin on his face and one hand extended, black earbud held out and probably blasting music he couldn't hear from this far away. He simply stopped, a light 'huh?' escaping him as he watched blue boy rush towards him. Keith instantly noticed that the earbuds were black, and he found himself feeling slightly annoyed yet slightly happy at the realization (but mostly annoyed). Black earbuds were the best. Only he could have black earbuds.

"I was thinking about our conversation the other day, you know, about how you like that band Purple Haze or whatever?"  
"...you mean Jimi Hendriks?" He asked dryly, while the boy standing across from him only shrugged. To be honest, he liked the Randolph & The Family Band version better, but no way in hell was he admitting that to anyone, especially Lance.  
"At least you got the SONG right..."  
"Whatever bro. But anyway, if you liked that, you're gonna love this song!" The latter continued, all but shoving the earbud in his ear. Keith moved his head away at the action, fixing the cord's position with a slight scowl as he leaned back across the railing, crossing his arms as he did so. His head was tilted down slightly as he stared at some of the shallow grooves on the floor, listening to the low-quality guitar riff cut through the bulb in his ear.  
His earbuds were better.

"Pretty cool huh?" Lance said, and no doubt there was yet another stupid grin on his face to accompany the exclamation. Normally, Keith would have been annoyed by the interruption to his music (especially such a loud one, from so close by, in the middle of a vocal line in the chorus). This time...well, ok, he was still a LITTLE annoyed, but not nearly as much as he should have been.  
That somehow made him even more annoyed.  
But only slightly.  
It was hard to be annoyed, because this song was actually...quite good. He found himself bobbing his head along to the music, swinging it side to side slightly as he turned to look at the blue-clad male beside him.  
"What's it called?" He asked, still nodding his head slightly to the beat.  
"Pretty good, right?" Lance asked, eyes closing as his smile only grew wider. Keith simply nodded again - in time with the beat, of course. The guitar in it definitely wasn't bad at all, and the drums were on point.  
"Yeah, it's not bad," he managed, turning his head to look up at Lance as he did so.

"It's called In the End, by Linkin Park."

Keith froze, eyes widening just a bit as his body tensed, brain going blank as a wave of panic coursed through him. Linkin Park. Keith took a lot of pride in his music, not that he'd ever admit it, and had always considered himself above the trashy emo early 2000s stuff, ESPECIALLY the trash that was Linkin Park. He'd spent years denying that he actually liked Bring Me to Life by Evanescence, and to this day refused to admit that the vocals were actually quite good. Linkin Park was even worse, though; he couldn't help but feel that they ripped off the original, better guitar riffs and mixes of the 60's through 80's. He'd outright refused to listen to them, besides for bits and pieces of a few songs here and there just to reaffirm that yes, they WERE, in fact, terrible. Liking Linkin Park was...borderline blasphemy.

"Uh, Keith? You ok bro?" Lance asked, head cocked to the side as he stared down at him. Keith instantly tried to loosen up, wiping the shocked expression from his face as best he could. He blinked to help reset his vision, trying not the hum along to the rather relatable and catchy chorus.

"Yeah, fine." He said, managing a light shake of the head in response. "Why do you ask?"  
"You looked kind of tense for a minute there bro. But anyways, I gotta go, I promised Hunk I'd help him out with something after lunch. It had something to do with legs, but I'm not sure if he was talking about chicken or robotic ones...anyways, catch you later!" He said, ripping the earbud out of Keith's ear as he ran back the way he came. Keith tried not to scowl slightly as he left, and failed rather miserably - he'd ran off right in the middle of the bridge, one earbud trailing behind him as he ran.  
"He should really take better care of those things, they're already bad enough as it is..."

So that was how Keith found himself listening to the song in his room later, his BETTER black earbuds in his ears as he laid back on his bed. You couldn't just stop listening in the middle of a bridge like that, even if it WAS a Linkin Park bridge. And so he listened, one leg propped up and crossed over the other and fingers interlocked behind his head, leaving slight wrinkles on the pillow from moving his head in time with the beat. He found his foot tapping along as well, swinging back and forth in the air as if it had a mind of its own.  
Then the song had started again, and he didn't feel like moving to reach for his iPod to change it, so he simply just let it play. He found himself humming along to bits and pieces of the chorus, eyes closed for long swatches of it, corners of his lips twitching upwards into a smile as the bridge came up again.  
He'd never admit it to anyone, but maybe Linkin Park wasn't so bad after all.

And so he found himself listening to the song almost constantly, the black earbuds always resting next to his bed before he went to sleep. Putting them in as soon as he woke up had become a habit, and he'd started taking more time to get ready, if only to listen to it in the privacy of his room an extra time or two before leaving for the day. He'd also discovered that it was a great song to work out to, too; and his earbuds blasted it constantly every time he went to work out with Shiro (then again, when WASN'T he blasting music when he worked out with Shiro). His eyes widened as he fumbled for the black cord that, for some reason, wasn't next to his bed, instantly more awake as a vague panic began to set in. He froze as he heard the faint sounds of the now all-too-familiar guitar chords coming from the bedsheets, letting out a sigh of relief as he re-inserted the device back into his ear. He'd fallen asleep with them on last night, and they were just tangled up in the sheets underneath him. He vaguely wondered how many times the song had played while he'd been asleep as he got up, singing along to the verse under his breath as he went to get his clothes.  
He'd memorized all the words days ago.

"Hey Keith! What'cha listening too?" A voice called out. Keith was vaguely aware of someone coming up behind him as he felt a hand land on his shoulder, slowing his pace as he turned to face the newcomer.  
"Hey Lance. Nothing much," he replied simply, pulling on of the buds out of his ear to better talk to the male who was now next to him.  
"Is it more of that 80's stuff again? Like, John Lennan or whatever?"  
"Lennon," He corrected absentmindedly, brain whirring as he tried to dodge the question. Admitting he was listening to In The End to Lance was...embarrassing. Admitting it to ANYONE was embarrassing, but admitting it to Lance was even WORSE. Especially since he was the one who introduced the song to him.  
"Lennon, Lennan, tomato, tomahto. Whatever. He's still just as ugly either way. So what's the song called?"  
"Uh, n-nothing important," Keith said, face turning a slight shade of pink as he closed his iPod, making sure the screen was black as he turned the volume down self-consciously, as if Lance could hear it. He felt like he was sweating for some reason. Was he sweating? No, he wasn't sweating. Why was he so nervous?  
"Come on, Keith, just tell me. Your old-ass dinosaur music has admittedly amazing titles. I mean, Purple Haze? I love it!"  
He couldn't tell Lance. He just couldn't. It was way too embarrassing. Why had he listened to Linkin Park in the first place?! This was a mistake. A terrible mistake. Lance couldn't know. He didn't even have an entirely rational reason for it at this point; he just knew that Lance c o u l d n ' t k n o w.  
"U-uh, I need to go. Like, right now," he said, cursing the stutter that slipped out as he started to back away from Lance. And rather quickly, at that.  
"You ok there, buddy? Come on, it's just a song title. It can't be THAT bad. I mean, Purple Haze? Really? If you can top that..."  
"Sorry, gotta go...control room. Right now. Bye!" He said, face hot as he turned tail and ran, stumbling slightly in the process, leaving a very confused Lance behind him.  
He'd never messed up so badly in his entire life.

And he still couldn't turn the damn song off.

**Author's Note:**

> I believe in Lance's shitty music taste


End file.
